Abstract

LANGJAHR, Patricia  and  SOTELO, Pablo. Present and future of therapeutic recombinant antibodies. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2016, vol.14, n.2, pp.110-121. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/Mem.iics/1812-9528/2016.014(02)110-121.

Antibodies are a key component of the immune system, acting in the highly specific recognition and subsequent destruction of foreign molecules. Monoclonal antibodies produced by hybridoma technology have disadvantages for use in human therapy because of its origin in a different species. Genetic engineering enabled the use of monoclonal antibodies for human therapies, generating recombinant therapeutic antibodies. Thus, the recombinant antibodies have become an important group of drugs; dozens of them are approved for human therapy and there are hundreds in development. They are successfully used as a treatment for a wide range of pathologies, such as cancer, autoimmunity and infections, being the biopharmaceutical with higher sales. Initially therapeutic recombinant antibodies showed the conventional structure of the antibodies. However, more recently, new designs that do not have natural structural features have been generated such as single chain formats and bi-specific antibodies. Due to development and success of recombinant antibody technology, a steady increase in the number of new therapeutic drugs against new targets is expected in addition to the generation of new structures, uses and therapeutic strategies. In this review, we will focus on their structural features and clinical application in the treatment of various pathologies. We will also discuss new formats of antibodies and the emergence of biosimilar antibodies.

Keywords : immunoglobulins; antibodies; monoclonal; recombinant proteins; therapeutic antibodies.

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